138 EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG. 



for mauy years past that member of the Royal Society to whom I allude 

 has uobly devoted a part of his lar^e fortune to the advancement of 

 science. This commendable astronomer, like all men of science whose 

 thoughts are concentrated on one sole object, fell into the error, which 

 1 do not pretend to excuse, of measurhig- through a magnifyiug-glass 

 the importance of the projects he had conceived. But that with which, 

 above all, he must be reproached is, that he did not foresee that the 

 hyperbolic language of his attacks would be taken literally ; that he 

 forgot that at all epochs and in all countries there are a great number 

 of persons who, having nothing to console them for their littleness, seize 

 as a prey on all occasions of scandal, and, under the mask of zeal for 

 the public good, enjoy the delight of being ignoble defamers of those of 

 their contemporaries whose success has been proclaimed by fame. In 

 Eome, he whose oflice it was to insult the triumphant conqueror was 

 altogether a slave ; in London it was a member of the House of Com- 

 mons from whom the men of science received a cruel affront. An orator 

 notorious for his prejudices, but who had hitherto vented his bitterness 

 only against productions of French origin, attacked the most celebrated 

 names in England, and retailed against them, in open Parliament, 

 puerile accusations with a laughable gravity. Ministers, whose elo- 

 quence was exercised for hours on the privileges of a rotten borough, 

 did not pronounce a single word in favor of genius. The Board ot 

 Longitude was suppressed without opposition. The next day, it is true, 

 the wants of an innumerable marine service made their imperative voice 

 heard, and one of the men of science who had been displaced, the former 

 secretary of the board. Dr. Young, found himself recalled to his old 

 labors. Paltry reparation ! Would the man of science feel less the 

 separation from his illustrious colleagues 1 Would the man of feeling 

 less perceive that the noble fruits of human intellect were subjected to 

 tariff by the representatives of the country, in pounds, shillings, and 

 lience, like sugar, pepper, or cinnamon ? 



The health of our colleague, which had already become somewhat 

 precarious, declined from this sad epoch with fearful rapidity. Skillful 

 physicians, by whom he was attended, soon lost hope. Young himself 

 had a consciousness that his end was approaching, and saw it come with 

 an admirable calmness. Until his last hour he occupied himself with- 

 out intermission on an Egyptian dictionary then in the press, and which 

 was not published till after his death. AYlien his powers did not permit 

 him any longer to sit up or to employ a pen, he corrected the proofs 

 with a pencil. One of the last acts of his life was to exact the sup- 

 pression of a small publication written with talent by a friendly hand, 

 and directed against all those who had contributed to the destruction of 

 the Board of Longitude.* Young died surrounded by a family by w^hom 



* The whole account of the transactions connected with the abolition of the Board 

 of Longitude must be I'eceived with some qualification. Arago writes on the subject 

 in his usual vehement tone, and in the feeling in which the whole aft'air would 

 naturally be viewed bj'^ a* foreigner perhaps not intimately acquainted Avith the 

 minute points of the case, and the somewhat different relative position occupied by 

 the parties in England to that in which they might stand in France. It may be right 

 very briefly to point out a few particulars in the case, which are necessary for forming 

 a correct imx^ression of it. The Board of Longitude, originally instituted, as its name 

 implied, for one specific object, which it was considered had been sufficiently attained, 

 was, in 1818, remodeled by act of Parliament, when Dr. Young was appointed secre- 

 tary to the board and superintendent of the Nautical Almanac. The late Mr. F. Baily, 

 whose eminence in astronomical science may ])erhaps be dated from that event, 

 strongly pointed out the numerous defects of the Nantical Almanac. This led to some 

 controversy of rather a sharp nature between himself and Dr. Young, who defended 

 -the existing system. Other astronomers joined in the desire for these and even more 



